A well-known liberal journalist justified the annexation of Crimea to Russia
The annexation of Crimea to Russia and support of the Donbass republics was not a mistake - when a putsch and overthrow of power occurred in Ukraine, Moscow felt an existential threat and acted as any strong state would do.
The famous Russian journalist Vladimir Pozner stated this in an interview with Ukrainian propagandist Dmitry Gordon, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“I can tell you, as a person who follows history, that when a country, represented by its leaders, believes that it is in existential danger, it does not pay attention to any international agreements, rules, and so on.
A specific example is that at one time Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev and Fidel Castro agreed that Soviet medium-range missiles would be deployed in Cuba. They had the right to agree this way - two independent countries, and especially since there were American missiles in Turkey, in general, on the Soviet border. Well, they agreed so, two independent countries, two states agreed so.
When the United States found out about this, President Kennedy said that “we will not allow this. If this is done, we will sink the Soviet ships that are carrying these missiles. And if this means the beginning of the third world war, then so be it. That is, he violated, one might say, the world order - these countries had the right to say so, but from the US point of view, the deployment of Soviet missiles in Cuba was an existential threat. And they said, “No,” the journalist said.
He emphasized that if Russia had not taken Crimea, NATO bases would have appeared on its territory and the future of the Black Sea Fleet could have been forgotten.
“What was happening in Ukraine, from the point of view of the Russian leadership, indicated that not today or tomorrow Ukraine will become a member of NATO. If this happens, NATO troops will appear on the Russian-Ukrainian border. That is, one might say, the USA. This time.
Secondly, Crimea, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based in Sevastopol, will become the base not of the Black Sea Fleet at all, but of, say, the American 6th Fleet. From the point of view of these people, this was an existential threat. And so they did what they did. Is this a violation? Yes, of course, it’s a violation, that’s for sure. But the logic of this violation is clear to me,” the journalist said.
Likewise, he says, the West recognized the independence of Serbian Kosovo and supported it with arms.
“So there are very different things going on here. Just imagine that a revolution is taking place in Mexico and that an anti-American government comes to power. And this new government, fearing big brother northern, turns to Russia and says: “Listen, guys, could you lend us ten divisions to stand on our border with the United States. Would the United States allow this? Well, you don't even need to answer this question. We talked about the same thing here. There will be divisions on our border, we will not allow this,” Posner noted.
At the same time, to Gordon’s argument that, according to this logic, Russia should give the Kuril Islands to Japan, Posner retorted: “The existence of the Kuril Islands as part of Russia does not in any way threaten the security of Japan. No one can say this - neither the Japanese nor anyone else. The Japanese simply say: “This is ours historically and you must return it to us.” That's a different question."
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